Cojones? Bay Area Dem Steve Glazer becomes first public official to support ban on public transit strikes

With a BART strike looming which could gridlock the Bay Area and affect some 400,000 riders, Democrat Steve Glazer — a candidate for State Assembly — has become the first elected official in the area to back state legislation that would ban public transit workers from striking.

Glazer, a member of the Orinda City Council for nine years, announced the position Monday on his website for his campaign for the seat in the 16th Assembly District, which stretches from Orinda to Pleasanton and Dublin. He’s also been a longtime and close adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the California State University system.

To our knowledge, he’s the first public official to make a move in support of legislation banning transit strikes — and that may give him some attention as nervous BART riders, many in his district, prepare to arrange alternate transportation with talks still ongoing.

“We are now a few weeks away from the BART strike deadline. A strike will cripple our economy, hurt workers getting to their jobs, and limit access to schools and health care facilities,” he said in a statement. “This is wrong.”

“I support state legislation to prohibit public transportation workers from striking.”

Glazer told us Monday that transit systems in New York, Massachusetts, Chicago and Washington — and even San Francisco -are restricted from striking. And those regions, with heavy Democratic and labor representation, have all come to the same conclusion: that it’s not anti-union, but simply in the public safety interest.

“The impact of a strike against a regional transit system like BART will be felt across the state,” Glazer said in his statement. “This is not an issue that should be in the hands of individual transit boards. We need a statewide law prohibiting transportation strikes.”

California courts have upheld the right of public employees to strike with two major exceptions — when a strike “would create a substantial and imminent threat to public safety” or when a law specifically prohibits certain workers from striking. San Francisco city employees, including workers on Muni’s public transit system, are banned from striking by City Charter.

Polls have showed that the public was heavily against the last BART strike in July which lasted a few days and sent commuters scrambling for alternatives and suffering through hours of gridlock. Some legislators have called for studying such legislation banning transit strikes — but not a single elected official in the heavily Democratic Bay Area has risked labor’s wrath and come out in full support of the idea.

Glazer said Monday that he thinks it’s the right thing to do — and he’s going for it.

“I urge the BART board and the unions to quickly settle their differences; protecting worker health and safety while eliminating this threat to the economic health of our region.”

We’ll see how the unions, and other Democrats, react on this one, and post responses.
Meantime, what’s the reaction from readers?
Stay tuned for updates.